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Music: Angels with perky faces

The latest boyband sing hymns - and are set to be huge. Choir can be cool

As record-industry showcases go, the one held at the ICA, in London, last month was unusual. Among the familiar faces you'd expect to see at such an event were at least two priests wearing dog collars. And when the curtain swept back, it was to reveal not a new pop band trying to make themselves heard above the music-biz chatter, but a stage bedecked with flickering candles, and three boys dressed in identical black suits. A respectful hush greeted their appearance, and they launched into a live cover version of Eric Clapton's Tears in Heaven. Meet the Choirboys - "the world's first choir boyband", as the publicity terms them. Earlier, the trio had been introduced by their co-manager, a certain Aled Jones. If anyone is qualified to advise three young boys on the peaks and pitfalls of early fame, it's the man who wooed the world 20 years ago with Walking